If I Knew My Enemy Was This Dense I'd Have Fought a Neutron Star
by BrutalAftershock
Summary: When a scheme works against a member of a team of privately armed I.S pilots, he realises he's shit outta luck. Hunter Comstock would like to say he brougt his Aussie charm to I.S academy, if it wasn't for the fact he crashed there. Now with a rival as dumb as a rock, a bombshell of a teacher and a super powered German girl to contend with, he has his work cut out for him. Multi OC
1. Friends, right?

**Oh look I'm doing it again! Starting another story on impulse that will almost certainly not be updated regularly. So, I.S, eh? Okay, well I can only do as much as my imagination will permit, so screw it, Ichika needs a god damn rival that doesn't wanna do the horizontal tango with him, so I'll bring one.**

If I knew my enemy would be this dense I'd have fought a Neutron Star

Prologue: Friends, right?

The world had changed since the advent of the Infinite Stratos; exoskeletal war machines with unparalleled aerial abilities, weapon customisation, armour configuration and utility. The technological world had marched forth with renewed vigour with new weapon systems emerging, storage and manufacturing methods, even A.I. However, while the technological world flourished, the political landscape of the world was knocked clean off balance.

There was a drawback with the creation of the I.S, and that was they only responded to female command, thus only being usable for women. With such a massive military advantage in their hands, prominent female figures in the world called for societal and social change. They were met with resistance as change often is, but it was eventually a woman's world within just a few short years.

However, while women were guaranteed to be able to use the system, it was never proven to be completely impossible for a male to use one, not without some...alterations. That is where Marik I.S.M.R.D, or Marik Infinite Stratos Military Research and Development came in. Marik was a private military and security corporation that eventually branched out into the Infinite Stratos market, soon developing its own technology and training its own pilots through some dark and underhanded business deals.

They scoured the world for their pilots, taking in soldier's sons, young gang members, war orphans, and homeless teens in order to give them a future, and create an army. Their roster of trained and eligible pilots stood at just 30 combat ready pilots split into six teams of five. Cadets made up around two thirds of the pilot force, coming in at just over 60, with nearly 400 waiting to be screened and inducted in to Marik's forces.

The most prominent team, and the go-to guys for messy wet-work was Team Railhead. They were the best at what they did, each with personal I.S units, and they were getting ready for their favourite pass-time. Unlike the lesser teams who had customised training units, each cranked up to badass levels of power and performance.

The leader of Railhead, Ivan Vasiliev, was a 19 year old Russian boy with a past with gangs and violent crime. He grew up in Tolyatti, a city in Russia with a reputation for gang violence and its less than stellar economic climate. He never went into much detail about how Marik found him or why he decided to join. He was around 5'10, with a stocky build and military buzz cut. He was soft spoken and often quite gentle, not really one to confront people about anything unless it involved a mission. His brown eyes seemed much older than his age would suggest. He piloted the heavily set and bulky I.S unit T-34-X1, or 'Hunchback'.

The second in command was Raimundo Velasquez, a 5'8, 18 year old Brazilian boy who also lived with a past of gangs. He was fiery and twitchy, always messing with something. He spoke his mind and if someone had a problem, they were dealt with. He had choppy close shaven hair, with a short mohawk. He piloted the light and stylish EE-T1-X2, also known as 'Osório Salvador'. He was brought into Marik when he was found in the warehouse basement of a Cartel stronghold by privately warranted Marik strike team.

The third member of Team Railhead was Carter McCoy, 16 year old American boy who was sent by his father, an Army Ranger. He had short, sandy hair and green eyes. He stood at 5'9 with a rather slim build. He wore rimless glasses and had several piercings in his right ear. He piloted the M2A1-X4, a medium weight, long range unit that went by the name 'Sherman Longshot'. He was rather reserved and was well educated on how the I.S and their weapon systems functioned.

Member number four, Alexei Petrov, was and odd one. He rarely spoke but was an absolute wizard when it came to I.S piloting. He also let the explosions he caused speak for him as he was the artillery of the team. He was around 5'7, 15 years old and also from Russia. He was very pale, with charcoal black eyes and grey eyes. He was quite withdrawn, only ever speaking to Ivan or their Commander. He was pulled off the streets where he begged day in day out and given a chance to be something more. He piloted the heaviest of their team's units as it was laden with shoulder mounted MLRSs for rapidly firing salvo after salvo of missiles over long distances. He piloted the M270-M1X15, the 'Barrage'.

The final member of Railhead, Hunter Comstock, was a 6',17 year old Australian pilot from Queensland. He was upbeat and cocky, with a sharp wit and a habit of purposefully aggravating others when the situation called for it. He kept morale up, and was also the most experienced member of Railhead behind Ivan. He had short dark hair and hazel eyes, with a small scar on his right eyebrow. He was drafted into Marik as a war orphan in a technical sense. His parents were killed when his family was caught up in a firefight between an unknown group of I.S pilots and Australian government units. He piloted the close to mid range specialist unit AC1-X52C the 'Sentinel Crusader'.

Each team member and unit had its own unique and crucial role within the team. Ivan and Hunchback were responsible for communication, first aid and laying down suppressive fire. Their secondary role was as a close range fighter as Hunchback's large frame and heavy weight coupled with its thick armour made it an ideal melee unit. It had a mounted machine gun with explosive rounds, a quad-barrel shotgun with the top set firing anti-armour rounds, and the bottom set firing small EMP grenades to take down any I.S absolute defence shield. For melee combat it had a large maul with a built in microwave generator designed to melt pilots and fry shields.

Raimundo and Osório Salvador served as the team's scout and reconnaissance unit. Osório was equipped with light armour, powerful thrust engines, camouflage technology, a coil-fired scout rifle, and two SMGs. It's light frame and peerless speed made it perfect for forward reconnaissance and infiltration.

Carter and Sherman Longshot were the team's sniper unit. Sherman came fully equipped with multiple HUD configurations including infrared, night-vision, Sonar vision and 3D scanning. It used a fully operational prototype magnetic-accelerator rifle, with a 300x SVD reticule scope. It had an SMG side arm and a trophy system mounted on both shoulders, with sensory plates on the back, forearms, shoulders and legs.

Alexei and Barrage were in charge of being the team's one man artillery crew. Barrage was mounted with MLRSs, flares, a chain gun, deployable grenade launchers with a secondary mortar function, four grenade belts with MIRV functionality, laser missile defences and thick, slanted armour plating. It was the biggest and slowest of the units, but had the most firepower. It's secondary role was to carry a surplus of ammo to resupply the team in an extended firefight as well as special, mission specific equipment.

Finally, Hunter and Sentinel Crusader's role was to be the front line combat specialist. Sentinel had a mostly close ranged array of weaponry. Sentinel's primary weapon was a quad-barrel shotgun like Ivan's but fired anti-armour and explosive shells. For auxiliary equipment, Sentinel had flares, mines, grenades, and a sword styled like a medieval longsword. Sentinel's secondary weapon was a powerful three-round-burst pistol. The unit's armour was of medium weight, with thicker armour around the arms and joints of the I.S.

Each pilot had one thing in common, and that was the prosthetic arms they all had. Due to the nature of I.S function, changes had to be made to the pilots and the I.S activation algorithms. So, each pilot willingly sacrificed their dominant hand, having their arms severed from just under the elbow and replaced with a state of the art, fully articulated prosthetic. These were used to activate, monitor and maintain their I.S units.

The team was spending the remainder of their day in the hangar. They practically lived in there as their beds, kitchen, showers, and toilets were all integrated into their section of the hangar. House of Pain 'Jump Around' played loudly from their stereo as Ivan checked Hunchback's armour and weaponry, Raimundo played basket ball with Carter, Alexei took stock of the team's ammunition, and Hunter stood frying up some bacon, mushrooms and sausages for the team. It was dusk, and in just two hours, they were to travel across the pacific from their base off the coast of East Timor and towards Japan.

'' Oi Ivan?'' Hunter called from his position at the cooker. Ivan looked over at him, stopping his inspection. ''The Colonel say what he wanted us to do? Seems kinda iffy he wants us to just float around that I.S academy.''

''Scout mission. Probing defences. The Commander wants us to observe their only male pilot. Says he's a high priority target.'' Ivan responded. He hopped down from the heavily armoured canopy that gave Hunchback its name.

''Ichika Orimura right?'' Carter asked, letting Raimundo take the ball from him.

''Isn't he supposed to be some kind of big shot? I bet the kid doesn't know the first thing about how to really fight in an I.S.'' Raimundo said with disdain. Ivan passed Hunter a brown folder with 'CLASSIFIED' stamped in red on the front. The Australian raised an eyebrow and opened it, taking out the pages kept together with a paper clip. On the first page was a standard photo of Ichika in his academy uniform, followed by paragraphs of information.

Hunter looked at it for several moments before cracking a mocking smile. ''Got a bit of a dopey face doesn't he? Like the kangaroo's loose in the top paddock.'' the others looked at him with thinly veiled confusion. ''I'm saying he looks bloody stupid.''

''His sister is a big deal when it comes to I.S'' Carter supplied, garnering the attention of the team. ''She won the first Mondo Grosso tournament about a decade ago. But since then, she hasn't done much outside of teaching other pilots at the academy.''

''I heard a furphy that she did military work as well.'' Hunter said as he plated up their food.

''Well rumours are just that, rumours. Though I wouldn't put it past her, she's like a drill sergeant.'' Carter replied. Ivan raised an eyebrow at him.

''You seem to know an awful lot about her. She that interesting?'' the leader asked with a smirk. Carter rolled his eyes.

''Come on Ivan, it's not like that. Besides, she _was_ the best I.S pilot in the world at one point, so she's got that.'' Carter defended.

''Maybe when it comes to combat sports, but for active, live combat, I'd say we've got the edge.'' Hunter said confidently. It was true that weapons grade I.S units weren't permitted under international law as per the Alaska Treaty. Also, it was a rule of thumb that I.S pilots tended not to have military training in combat or tactics.

''Either way, this Ichika Orimura has started to stand out quite a bit as of late. The Commander wants us to gather information on his skills and abilities, and those of his friends. Though they would only be a bonus.'' Ivan cut in.

''So that's why we're launching so late. This is a night-op.'' Hunter said excitedly. ''Take them by surprise and see how they react under sudden combat conditions.'' Ivan nodded as Hunter plated up. They began to dig in as the sun lowered over the horizon.

 _0900 hours_

After their late dinner, which was met with compliments from the other members of Railhead, Hunter and the others suited up in their armoured I.S body suits and deployed their units. The team was identifiable by their black primary and grey secondary colour scheme, and the different helmets and masks they wore for their HUDs. That and the red glow of their visors.

Ivan's helmet had three circular visors on the right side, each displaying different I.S statuses, combat data and pilot medical information. The left visor was a single circular visor which was for increasing magnification for whatever he was looking at. An antenna stuck up from the left side of the helmet for sending and receiving orders and communication.

Raimundo's mask was a simple aviator-breathing mask with a narrow, horizontal visor across his eyes with multiple vision configurations.

Carter wore a balaclava with a pair of goggles with the optics extended out in the way a camera's lens would extend. They processed movement much faster and with much more precision than any other on the team, and along with a link to an orbital satellite above the academy with which he could exchange tactical data with.

Alexei wore a fully armoured gas mask-like helmet with a vague skull motif. His visor was comprised of two semi-circular windows which kept track of ammunition, formulated firing solutions, and monitored weapon statuses.

Hunter's helmet looked reminiscent of the Templar helmets of the Crusades. Its angles and contours were shaped more effectively for deflecting small arms fire. The visor was a V shaped slit across the eyes that actively took in combat data from opponents, monitored armour and weapon conditions, tracked pilot vitals and had omni-directional detection apparatus built in.

The Commander of their unit, Col. Anton Marston, donned in full officer garb with a proud peaked cap with many medals decorating the breast of his coat. He eyed his soldiers critically, gauging their readiness. He was a tough son of a bitch at the best of times, and absolute hell at the worst. He handled, managed and requisitioned equipment for Railhead. And most importantly, he was the one who brought them to Marik.

''I'll go over this briefing quickly, not much time to be wasting on words.'' he opened his hand to reveal a small holograph projector. Activating it, a blue, fully 3D map of Railhead's route and the academy were displayed.

''Alright, by 0300, you are to arrive at the mission area five miles from the academy. From there, McCoy will separate from the team and head North-West six miles out. Petrov will follow him and await orders.'' he said in a stern, no-nonsense tone. The team nodded and waited for him to continue.

''Vasiliev, Velasquez, and Comstock will proceed until within one mile of the target area.'' he stopped and looked off to his right, and from the shadows came a woman with long purple hair, a blue and white dress and robotic rabbit ears that twitched atop her head. Tabane Shinonono, the creator of I.S.

''Miss Shinonono will give you the specifics on your next set of orders.'' he stepped back and gave the stage to Tabane. Railhead looked between each other briefly, but turned their attention to the woman.

''Alright boys, listen up because this is like, super-duper important, kay?'' they all mumbled a confused 'yes ma'am' with the exception of Alexei. ''Awesome! So, you all have individual targets that you have to engage. You're not to kill them, okay? Cos that would be super bad.''

She took the projector from Marston and changed the images from a map of the academy and their route, to the targets they were going after. It was one male, and four female pilots.

''The boy is Ikkun. He's Chichan's little brother and the only boy at the academy, so I want you to really put him through his paces. That's where you come in Hunter.'' the Australian pointed at himself in confusion.

''Me ma'am? I thought you wanted to at least make sure he had a fair dinkum fight. Against me he's got Buckley's chance.'' he chuckled assuredly.

''I don't know so much Hunchan, he's pretty strong.'' Hunter gave her a flat look behind his helmet at his nick name. It didn't help that the others snickered at him either.

''Ivan will go after my little sister Houki! I'm sure she'll have some fun with you.'' she said, disturbingly easily considering she was sending Ivan and his beast of an I.S after he younger sister.

''Yes ma'am.'' he replied with a salute.

''Carter, you'll be taking on Cecilia Alcott. She's one of Ikkun's friends and a sniper like yourself. I think you'd appreciate the challenge.'' Tabane said clapping her hands.

''Yeah, sure. Whoever that is.'' he paused in thought. ''Wait, isn't she the representative of England?'' he wasn't answered as Tabane moved onto Raimundo.

''And you'll be going after Huang Lingyin. She's pretty good at piloting and has quite the mean streak. Kinda like you now that I think about it.'' she said as her bunny ears twitched. Raimundo smirked and spun both of his SMGs.

''Not a problem lady. I'll show her how a real pilot does it.'' he gloated while pretending to fire his guns. Tabane looked at Alexei and tilted her head to the side in though. She hadn't really considered what he would do besides deliver what she was about to tell him. An idea suddenly popped into her head and she clicked her fingers.

''I know what you can do!'' Alexei silently turned his stony gaze to her. '' After deploying the EMP blackout generator and setting it off, I'll need you to take out the auxiliary powered anti-air defences around the academy. Can't have any of you getting shot down now can we?''

The silent Russian just gave her a thumbs up, turned his back to Ivan and knelt down. Ivan picked up the EMP generator which had been wheeled in and placed it onto the mag-locks on Barrage's back. He stood again and faced Tabane.

''Well if you're all set, I'd say it's time to set off.'' Tabane said with a bright smile.

''Team Railhead, deploy!'' Marston barked, and a mere second later the team set off, all propulsion systems firing, roaring like a pride of lions. As both Marston and Tabane watched them go, the Colonel frowned. Both he and his team were having their strings pulled by elder Shinonono, and he didn't like it. Marik was an independently operating conglomerate, and being blackmailed and strong-armed by one person was embarrassing to say the least.

''Now that they're gone, you and I need to talk Miss. Shinonono.'' he said glowering at her. When she faced him, her expression was one of lazily hidden contempt.

''Indeed we do Mr. Marston. First, I would like to ask about your boys. And as for Hunter, I'm sorry in advance.'' her voice turned as cold and hard as stone. ''Where did you get them? And what did you do to their arms?''

 _00300_

Railhead had not long passed by the East China Sea, nearing the Northern Pacific. The journey had been long and quiet as they remained on alert for patrol ships and jet fighters. For a while they flew low and watched as the ocean passed beneath them like a glistening, mercurial expanse. It was easy to lose one's focus on the mission when in such a calm and serene place surrounded by the stillness of the night sea. Carter was the first to break radio silence.

'' _We're real close now. The satellite just established a connection with my I.S, so Barrage and I will move out in two minutes.''_ he reported.

'' _Copy that Sherman, comms have been established. ETA five minutes.''_ Ivan responded. _''Salvador, Sentinel, move to your positions and await further orders.''_

'' _Roger that''_ Raimundo said calmly.

'' _No worries.''_ Hunter chirped. Despite his chipper reply, Hunter couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, like they weren't being told something. No matter how many times he told himself the Colonel wouldn't screw them over, he didn't know so much about Tabane. No one was just like… that. No one.

Soon the team had split into their two formations, with Sherman scoped in six miles away from the academy with Barrage at his back. He kept his eye on the building and watched it like a hawk. Barrage disengaged the mag-locks keeping the EMP generator secure and grasped it. He was going to throw it towards the academy, and when Salvador got the signal, he'd shoot it with his scout rifle, detonating the device and causing a blackout across the whole island.

One mile out, Hunchback, Salvador and Sentinel waited until they got the green-light for the operation to commence. It was already 0300, and pretty much everyone in the academy was bound to be asleep. Just as impatience began to set in, the Colonel spoke over their comms.

'' _Railhead, mission is a go. Remember, no casualties are to occur on this mission. I repeat, no casualties.''_ he said. Ivan turned to the expectant Raimundo and Hunter and nodded with the 'okay' hand sign.

'' _We have the green-light. Throw the generator.''_

Barrage reared back, his arm reaching as far back as he could get it and like a catapult, he launched the generator at break-neck speeds towards the academy. Salvador tracked the generator's flight path through his scope and within 10 metres of the wall of the main building, he took the shot with a loud crack. An immense, dull thump rippled through the air as the electro magnetic pulse shut down all power that the academy had. After that, panic ensued as the auxiliary power engaged and the alarms blared. The anti-air defences activated and began sweeping the area around the academy from all sides.

'' _Alright get moving! Salvador, Sentinel, Sherman, find your targets and engage. Barrage, I want those defences destroyed now!''_ Ivan roared as he ascended and flew off to find Houki while Raimundo and Hunter did the same.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/

Ichika Orimura woke up to the deafening whining of the alarms as crimson light painted his room. He scrambled out of bed to find Houki doing the same. They shared a panicked look as they were both bewildered by the situation. Before they could even exchange words, explosions rocked the entire island and screams filled the corridors of the living complex.

''The hell is going on!?'' he yelled as he saw another explosion on the southern end of the of the island. ''Houki, we need to get out of here and find the others. If we're being attacked then we need to get out there!'' he exclaimed. They took a huge gamble taking the time to dress but they did so quickly and scruffily.

''Are you sure it's a good idea going out there? We don't know what's attacking us and how many there are.'' Houki said voicing her concerns as the two ran down the hallway. Ichika frowned in determination.

''Doesn't matter. Who or whatever's out there is threatening everyone in the academy. So if we don't stop them then who will?'' Houki sighed but ultimately agreed. As they ran through the winding corridors of the living complex, they passed many distraught students and some who were itching for a fight. There were many students gathered in the cafeteria, with Chifuyu at their head. The two forced their way through the crowd and made their way to her.

''It's about damn time you two got here. What took you so long?'' Chifuyu demanded angrily. She didn't even wait for an answer as she waved her hand dismissively. ''Nevermind, our power is down, our defences are being dismantled and we have no units out there. We need you and the others to get out there and hold the attackers off for as long as you can until we can get government help.''

''Chifuyu, have you seen them before?'' Ichika asked.

''From what our security feeds picked up when the auxiliary power kicked in, only one was identifiable. And it was one that I thought had been scrapped and outlawed. The AC1-X52C. Only one was made, but upon inspection it was unmistakable. If allowed that unit could tear through the academy in no time.'' she explained grimly.

''Ichika, take Houki and find her a unit. Then you'll meet the others outside.'' she commanded. Ichika and Houki's eyes shot wide open.

''You mean to tell me that Cecilia and Rin are already out there!?'' Houki yelled in concern. Chifuyu spared them a cursory glance.

''Someone had to get out there while you two made you way here. Also, Maya is with them.'' she informed, hoping to have at least somewhat reassured them. ''You two need to get out there now. Come one, get moving!''

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/

''You know something? That whole silent, mysterious thing is really grating on me girl.'' Rin growled as she viciously swung her twin-blade at Salvador in savage flourishes. She kept rushing him as he consistently stayed just out of her blade's reach and fired volleys of SMG rounds at her. Raimundo said nothing in return and reloaded with expert speed and efficiency. Rin opened fire with her shoulder cannons, but each shot was seemingly danced around by the light and agile Salvador unit as it returned fire.

''Damn you're fast. Alright, I'll just have to keep pushing it then.'' the Chinese girl muttered to herself. Streams of blue light streaked across her and crashed into Salvador's shields, causing him to look at Cecilia who wore a smug smile.

''Honestly if you wanted a better fight you should have just come to me. After all, all this brute can do is flail angrily at you.'' she taunted while lining up her shot. ''By the way Rin, you should really check your shield.'' Rin did just that and her eyes bulged when she saw how low her shield was. In just under five minutes, 75% of her shield had been shredded.

''What!? Just how powerful are those guns!?'' she shouted, shocked at the firepower her opponent possessed. She withdrew and examined her opponent from a distance as she tried to formulate any kind of plan. Suddenly she rapidly ascended into the clouds, hotly pursued by the enemy I.S. When she reached above the cloud layer, she quickly cut the power to her engines and after the inertia died, she went into freefall.

'I need to time this precisely. If not, I might get taken out.' she thought, pushing all of her focus onto her next move. The ominous red glow of Raimundo's visor was coming very close to breaking through the clouds and Rin smirked. She twirled her weapon and poised the tip at her opponent, and the result surprised her. She heard a low grunt from the enemy pilot as her blade slammed into his shield. Dismissing it as distortion from the mask they wore, she repeatedly slammed the weapon home while relentlessly blasting the shield with her shoulder cannons.

Raimundo checked his shields and saw it steadily going down. 80%. 70%. 'Shit, this isn't good!' he suddenly cried out when something hit him from behind.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/

Cecilia smirked as she kept her aim locked on the falling I.S. She made to squeeze the trigger again when she noticed a distant flash in the corner of her eye. Suddenly, she was violently jolted from her position and tumbled through the air. She corrected herself and checked for damages. She was shocked by the damage whatever had hit her had done.

'My shield is down to 10%!?' she thought frantically.

''Cecilia!'' a voice called. She narrowly dodged another round before turning to see Ichika, fully donned in his Byakushiki unit. Behind him was Houki, sword in hand and inside one of the training units.

''Ichika! Have you seen what's going on? It's chaos out here.'' she exclaimed. Another round passed them, clearly a warning shot as it passed between all three of them, just narrowly avoiding their heads. Cecilia took cover around a corner while Ichika hazarded a glance in the direction the shot came from.

''The hell is that?'' Houki asked while moving for cover. Cecilia shook her head and readied her rifle.

''I don't know, but whatever it its, just one round almost depleted my entire shield.'' she stated shakily. Both Ichika and Houki exchanged a nervous look. A football sized hole was blown out of the wall just above Cecilia's head. She screamed and scrambled forward, looking wide-eyed at the damage that was done.

'Just a little lower and that would have...' she didn't dare finish that thought and quickly stood. Just then Maya touched down and ran towards them.

''Are you alright? Anyone hurt?'' she asked quickly as she scanned over them all with her eyes. She sighed in relief as she noticed their shields were still up. They were shaken but okay.

''Miss Yamada, what's going on?'' Ichika asked in confusion. ''Whatever this attack is, it came out of nowhere.'' Maya uncharacteristically scowled.

''I don't know who they are, the units they're using or why they're here. All I know is that besides the one fighting Rin, and the one firing at us now, there are three others about. But what I've noticed is that they're only emerging when any of you do. So we should expect another two soon.'' she relayed.

''I've found the source of the mortar shells, and I only just barely escaped. It was huge, bigger than any I.S I've ever seen, heavily armoured and armed to the teeth.'' she said. ''We need to keep the academy as well defended until help arrives.''

''There won't be any. Sorry love.'' came an oddly accented voice. They snapped their heads upwards and saw an I.S brandishing a large Longsword. The menacing red visor glowered down at them as the large unit lowered itself to them. The unit had large shoulder plates shaped like coffins, and behind it floated a series of shields. Maya wasn't much into history, but from what she remembered they looked like Heater Shields. The unit didn't seem to have wings in the typical sense, but rather a series of clawed, arm-like mechanical appendages that arranged themselves into the shape of wings.

''Who are you?'' Maya demanded as she put herself before the enemy unit and her students.

''Someone following orders is all. Now, I'm here to fight him. Mano-a-mano. One on one. Or the boss and I are gonna have to kill your friends.'' he pointed his sword at Ichika. ''So what's it gonna be friend-o?

Ichika moved in front of Maya. He raised his own sword, a mechanical katana and glared daggers at Hunter. He slowly lifted from the ground to meet Hunter equally in the air.

''So you're gonna threaten my friends to get to me, is that right?''

''Yep.''

''And why go through all of this to get to me?'' Hunter scoffed at Ichika before waving a dismissive hand at him.

''Whoa, slow down there Mr. Centre of the universe. I'm here to fight you. The others are here to fight your friends. Pfft, assuming we did all this for you.'' he shook his head admonishingly. After a moment, Ichika's eyes widened.

''Wait, that voice. You're male?'' he questioned loudly. Hunter stared at him blankly and palmed the front of his helmet.

''Strewth you're dense. You just noticed? Don't matter anyway fella, I'm here to fight not throw a wobbly.'' he launched his unit at Ichika and their blades clashed in a shower of sparks. Ichika's back hit the wall behind him and he thrust further up to escape being pinned. They heard another shot from Sherman, more gunfire from Salvador, another mortar strike from Barrage and finally the heavy thumping of Hunchback's maul acquainting itself with Houki's sword. The whole area around and above the academy became a chaotic battlefield as the night was alight with gunfire and explosions.

Hunter and Ichika exchanged blow after blow, their blades clashing together loudly as they did all they could to force the other on the defensive. Ichika was struggling to keep pace with the Sentinel's movements as his shield would always take a hit before his blade could parry the incoming strikes. His opponent hit hard as every strike took off 12% of his shield.

'Whoever this guy is, he's got a lot of experience with this. But how? I thought I was just some anomaly with the I.S. Are the rest of his team guys as well?' he was knocked from his thoughts when Hunter's sword smashed into his shield across his chest. The devastating blow took 30% off his shield. He winced and pulled back.

'He's strong, and whatever his weapon's kitted out with its something that I've never seen. It almost felt like it was vibrating, and I could hear the hum for just a moment.' he was sent hurtling back by another blow that he'd managed to block in the nick of time.

''Hello, Ichika? Fight's over here fella.'' Hunter called tauntingly. ''It won't help you to stare off into space mate.'' he levelled his sword at him again. ''You see getting distracted will only get you...'' he stopped short. His sensors were going crazy, reading objects approaching from all sides and they were too fast too dodge. ''What the fuck!?''

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/

'' _Communication with Sentinel Crusader has been jammed. Sherman, Barrage, Salvador. Fire at will.''_ Ivan spoke blankly. His heart sank as he gave that order, but he was just doing as the Colonel and Tabane said. He just hoped that someday Hunter would forgive them.

'' _I'm sure he'll understand that this has to be done.''_ Carter said. Silence followed for a few seconds. _''Taking the shot.''_

'' _No hard feelings man, just following orders.''_ Raimundo said, slight sadness in his tone. _''Firing.''_

'' _To paint our comrade as a turncoat through betrayal. Prosti menya.''_ Alexei said softly. _''Zapusk zalpovogo.''_

The resulting hail of missiles and gunfire was deafening, and the team saw their comrade engulfed in fire and lead. It suddenly felt as if their units were heavier after that. Their mission was complete, and now they had to return home with damaged units, tired minds and the heavy weight of guilt.

 **Okay, done. I took the approach of introducing multiple characters as opposed to just one this time. After this, the rest of Railhead will be seen again, just not for a while or any lengthy periods of time in the first few chapters.**

 **For those of you who are curious, there will be pairings and shit like that. It will mostly be a kind of Hunter, Laura, Chifuyu kinda thing, but we'll see how that will go. Another thing is that the rivalry between Hunter and Ichika will be mostly comedic, but it will get intense at points. Remember to review, give feedback, like, fav and all that top notch, quality shit.**

 **[Additional notes]**

 **Prosti meny= forgive me.**

 **Zapusk Zalpovogo= Launching salvo.**

 **Brutal Aftershock out.**


	2. Chapter 1

If I Knew My Enemy Was This Dense I'd Have Fought A Neutron Star

Chapter 1: So a French, a German and an Aussie walk into a bar…

As the rumbling and fire died, no one dared speak. In a truly unexpected turn, the attackers suddenly and without warning turned on one of their own, utterly obliterating him and his unit. They'd just seen death and no one was quite sure how to react. With the mysterious enemy units vanishing into the night, they were not pursued. Ichika was staring into the space his opponent had occupied merely moments before, now seeing naught but a cloud of smoke and embers. His mind whirled in a confused torrent of jumbled thoughts. What happened? Why did his friends turn on him? Would he have even survived that? If he did, where did he even go?

He lowered his altitude and looked around the general are where he could have fallen. He frantically looked around for any signs of his fallen opponent, but hadn't found anything. He began to wonder why he was even so concerned. Whoever it was, he had endangered his friends, destroyed the academy's anti-air defences, and attacked him directly. Surely he shouldn't have been that concerned, right? He shook his head and cleared his mind of such thoughts. It was still a human life after all, and maybe there was a broader reason for why he and the others attacked the academy, and was ultimately betrayed.

''Orimura, are you alright?'' Ichika looked over his shoulder to see Maya, followed by Houki, Cecilia and Rin. He turned his body towards them.

''Yeah I'm fine.'' he said quickly. ''How about all of you? Are you alright?'' he asked sincerely.

''Fine for the most part. Still processing what just happened though.'' Houki said while rubbing her arm.

''Whoever they are, they have weaponry that far outstretches our own. They're clearly built for war, not combat sports like ours.'' Cecilia said with a troubled expression as she looked at the bowling ball sized dent in her I.S' arm plate. ''Punched a hole straight through my shield without fully taking it down. Whatever one of those pilots fired at me was very powerful and very precise.''

Maya frowned and cupped her chin. ''This is really bad. The Alaska Treaty very clearly states that I.S units aren't to be weaponised to the degree of military hardware. It's this kind of thing it was designed to protect against, especially when I.S units can be so heavily customised.''

''What else is it for?'' Ichika asked.

''To stop military coups, terrorist organisations, civil wars, world war three. That kind of thing.'' she answered a little too easily.

''R-right.'' Ichika replied, not quite sure if he liked knowing what could happen without the treaty in place.

''But the fact that these machines are being weaponised and upgraded up to military spec regardless is something that really needs to be addressed.'' Houki said. Ichika then remembered why he'd come down in the first place and turned.

''Wait, we need to find the guy who got shot down. He has to be here somewhere.'' Ichika said resolutely as he renewed his efforts.

''Ichika!'' Houki called. ''Didn't you see what happened to him? You were right there, and there's no way he could have survived that.'' she said, trying her best to make Ichika relax. When she looked into his eyes, he looked like them. He was disturbed and bewildered, unable to cope with witnessing the death of another person.

While they argued back and forth, a pair of hazel eyes struggled to open as the body's ears picked up their voices. He was alive, and his body ached all over. He could feel the stickiness of blood on his face and head, ash and debris littering his tattered body suit. From what he could hear, Ichika and his friends were some distance away, a hundred metres at least. Hunter guessed he'd rolled into some kind of ditch or small dug-out as he stared up at an earthen ceiling. Weakly he tried to push himself up, only gaining any leverage with his synthetic arm. His left arm gave out under his weight and he hit the ground with a grunt. He grit his teeth as pain pulsed through his body. He stopped trying to move and breathed out a sigh, and with so much time to spend on doing nothing. His mind began to wonder, recounting how he ended up in the impromptu fox hole he'd somehow rolled into.

However, before waking up in pain, in a ditch on some random island, he couldn't remember how he got there or why. He remembered flying, faces of his friends, night and gunfire. Then all he remembered was searing pain and then… nothing. Panic shot through Hunter and he forced himself to move, pushing past the pain as he sat up. He hunched over with a strangled shout, forcing himself to stay quiet. He steadily lay back down and continued to stare at the dirt above him.

A thumping sound drew his attention outside, and in the low light he saw the silhouette of an I.S. Hunter held his breath and listened intently. They were quiet outside, searching for something. For him perhaps? His heart rate picked up and he focused harder on laying deathly still.

''I'm telling you Ichika, there's no way he'd be alive anywhere around here. No one just survives things like that.'' Rin said as she grew increasingly impatient. Hunter didn't recognise her voice. He was certain she was among the ones mentioned in his jumbled memories, but he couldn't recall any details.

''The I.S had the Absolute Defence right? And who knows what else his unit was kitted out with? I mean, it had advanced weaponry and it seemed to outperform our units like the others did, so it could have something to help the pilot survive even worse damage.'' he stubbornly refuted.

Hunter raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Why on Earth would they look for him, alive at that? He remembered attacking them, and having people with him to do so, so that would make them his enemies. Though he recalled having to attack one in particular. For comfort, he patted around his waist until he found his emergency side arm. Drawing it, he observed it to be an FN Five-Seven. It was a little old by today's standards but it was still very useful. He'd never had to use it, and after so long of not practising he was sure his aim would be a little off. Either way it made him feel a little more at ease.

''Now isn't the time for 'ifs' or 'maybes', Ichika. What we need to do is get back to the main building and tell Miss. Orimura what happened.'' Cecilia said succinctly. From the lack of a follow up, Hunter knew Ichika was hesitant. Though his reasons for wanting to find him alive eluded him, he decided it would be much to his benefit if Ichika heeded what his friends said. More time passed and Hunter breathed a sigh of relief when he heard them finally take off and leave the area. He suddenly noticed how tiring trying to stay so quiet could be, and quickly found himself slipping back into unconsciousness.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/

The following day found all of the students heavily monitored as they made their way around the school. Many areas around the main academy building and the living complex were heavily damaged by Barrage's bombardment. Plywood walls were erected around the destroyed gun batteries. Oddly enough the two buildings themselves were relatively untouched, just a few bullet holes in the walls, several cracked windows and a bit of scorching, but nothing too serious. However, what was serious was the amount of paperwork the teaching faculty, including Chifuyu, would have to do.

Chifuyu had passed her classes onto Maya for the day, having decided to be proactive in doing her paperwork and filing reports for the UN and various other governments. The cogs of her mind had churned for hours over the events of the previous night. They'd hardly touched the academy save for its defence system, they'd not injured any students or even the ones they'd claimed to be there to fight, and then turned suddenly and violently on one of their own. None of it made sense and Chifuyu was thoroughly confused and fed up with it.

Forcefully placing her pen on her desk and pushed her chair out with a sigh. She put her arms above her head and stretched before standing. She left her office, deciding it wouldn't hurt to go for a walk and stretch her legs. She passed quite a few students as she descended the floors of the school, almost all of them openly idolising her as she went by. She resisted rolling her eyes and carried on, not about to let a few star-struck fan girls get in the way of her walk. She gave a long sigh of relief when she got outside into the fresh air. A person can only be expected to sit in a stuffy office and do paperwork for so long. The stuffiness just gave her another reason to go after whoever attacked the academy. When they'd finally managed to get the power back on, the air conditioning had stopped working as its entire grid had been fried.

'Damn EMPs.' she thought bitterly. She casually walked the safe and unrestricted areas of the academy grounds at a decidedly slow pace as she didn't want to get back to her office too quickly. After several minutes of aimless wandering in deep thought, she found something odd on the path close the island's forest. It was a streak of blood. It was slightly brown and drying into the paving stones. It had been there for a while, a few hours at least. Her heart rate picked up, worried that one of her students wasn't as unharmed as she'd thought.

As she moved closer to the blood, she could see there was a considerable amount. Several splotches with a few large spills close to the grass. She followed it as she saw it staining blades of grass until she came to a tree with a bloody smear on it in the shape of a hand print. The size of the smear, and the width of the fingers on the print didn't seem like a girl's but she couldn't be sure.

'Where are they going? There aren't many places to go around here and they can't have gotten far. A wound bleeding this much wouldn't allow for even a brisk pace.' she thought deductively. She quickly advanced on the next spots of blood that were becoming more and more fresh. Her pace quickened and the blood trail turned from spatters and smears to full streaks of blood. She heard very quiet, raspy breathing from around a corner.

Chifuyu took a moment to prepare herself for what she might see. As stern and hardy as she was, blood and wounds were never pretty sights, and from the amount of blood just on the way there, this wound was going to be an ugly one. Finally she rounded the corner and saw a black-clad, helmeted figure slumped limply against a nearby tree.

'It's the one that got shot down.' Chifuyu though in shock. She was completely sure he was dead, if not from all of the bullets and missiles, then the resultant fall should have finished him off. The figure heard her and quickly turned, suddenly on the defensive. She was alarmed when a gun was raised at her, albeit shakily. She regained her nerve when she surmised he was in no condition to aim right let alone fire his gun.

''Stand down.'' she ordered. Her voice was hard and authoritative, and the pilot twitched slightly.

''Where am I, and how did I get here?'' the wounded pilot wheezed. Chifuyu took note of his accent, recognising it as Australian.

'So this was the one that fought Ichika.' she thought. ''You are on an island independent of international law. Wherever you're from, whoever you work for, cannot get to you here. Now stand down.''

''You didn't answer my question.'' Hunter growled painfully. His gun hand shook harder for a moment before he forced it to be steady. He clutched his side protectively as he got into a position more ready to run if he had to.

''This is the I.S academy.'' she answered. She paused to think about her next words. She thought it would be wise to twist the situation in her favour. ''Do you know how you got here?''

Hunter looked down at the ground, then up at her. He was silent for a few seconds before answering. ''No. I only remember faces, names and not much else. I remember being at a military base a few hundred miles away, but that feels like… days ago now.'' he answered, clearly struggling to recall anything about the events in the previous several hours.

''I can fill you in on how you came here.'' she half lied ''But first, I need you to hand me your weapon. I'll call for a medical team and get your wounds seen to.'' when Hunter made no moves, she was apprehensive. On his side, Hunter weighed his options, and either way it resulted in him being stuck on the island somehow. He could either resist and end up with a security detail dragging him into the academy, or come quietly and have a better chance of getting his bearings. The woman didn't seem to pose a threat, but he would be a fool to take her lightly. Reluctantly he flipped his pistol around and held the barrel, not before switching the safety on. Chifuyu stepped towards him and took hold of the gun, carefully taking it from his hand.

''Alright then, now I can call a medical team for you. Just wait a moment.'' just as she took out her phone, she saw Hunter slowly lean forward with his head down, and in seemingly slow motion, he fell face first onto the ground.

''Ah, dammit.''

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/

Chifuyu was sat in her office, once again on the grind to finish her paperwork. Evening had set in and her stuffy office, while a little cooler, was still hard to work in. Thoughts of all the things she'd rather be doing gnawed at her while she signed report after report, quickly fraying the metaphorical rope that was her temper. She shot up out of her seat and once again slammed her pen onto her desk.

''I can't be bothered with this right now. Damn UN and their reports.'' she muttered angrily. The door opened and Maya stepped in, eyeing Chifuyu with concern.

''You doing okay Miss. Orimura?'' she asked already having a grasp of the answer to come.

''Just a long day Maya. How's our patient doing?'' she asked changing the subject. Said patient had to be rushed into the emergency rooms, given a blood test and then a transplant. Thanks to medical advancements, blood tests could be conducted within minutes with an efficient team and laboratory.

''He's fine, still out. Still, it's amazing he lasted that long while bleeding that badly.'' she commented. Chifuyu shrugged non-committally.

''Some people are just tough like that. But it is still pretty surprising he managed to cover that much distance with wounds like that. Must have been pretty desperate to get away from the academy.'' Chifuyu said speculatively.

''I think with how things are, it's not going to be quiet around here. First with the attack, now finding that pilot, then having a new student arrive with another arriving a couple of days from now.'' Maya shook her head and sight, but with a strange smile on her face. ''I'd say things are going to get interesting.''

''That or incredibly dangerous.'' Chifuyu said pointedly to the green haired Teaching Assistant. ''On the bright side, if that pilot's memories are still messed up, I might be able to get him to stay and help us out. Maybe he'd give Ichika some friendly competition, he needs it.''

''If we can find a way of activating his I.S that is. He doesn't have anything like Ichika's bracelet or other devices like that. But when the doctors checked him over, they found that his right arm from the elbow down is a really advanced prosthetic.'' Maya said. Chifuyu's interest was piqued.

''A prosthetic? As in, a false arm?''

''Yeah. It's a really advanced piece of tech. It's fully articulated and made of similar metal you'd find on an I.S. It also has an onboard computer which monitors vitals, damage to the arm, and other basic things. But given the fact we haven't found anything else on him, I'd wager that's what he uses to call his I.S.'' Chifuyu raised a curious eyebrow.

''I see. Do you think that's how he's able to use his unit? Maybe the use of his arm makes his unit register him as an A.I or something.'' Chifuyu suggested.

''I suppose we'll have to ask him when he wakes up. Oh, by the way, did you say anything to him when you found him, or was he already like that?'' Maya asked. Chifuyu shook her head.

''No, he was conscious. When I found him and spoke to him, he seemed confused. He said something about not really remembering how he got here or why. After that, I said I'd tell him how he got here and then he collapsed.'' She chose to omit the part about him pointing a gun at her.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/

To say his mouth felt like he'd spent a day licking the ground of the outback was as much an understatement as saying he felt like utter shit. Hunter's eyes opened and he slowly took in his blurry surroundings. The ceiling was made up of white tiles, some having light fixtures in their place. A window on the right side of the room let in the orange evening sunlight, with enough shade that the light mostly covered the wall at the end of the room. The walls were also a stock white colour and the room smelled very clean, almost… sterilised.

Noticing the feeling on his back, and the comfortable softness at the back of his head, he looked down and saw his body draped in a white sheet, with a plastic sheet under him on top of a memory foam mattress. He suddenly heard the beeping next to the bed and saw a heart monitor with an IV bag full of blood, the tube from the bag stuck in the underside of his wrist. Looking to his right, he saw his prosthetic arm in stark contrast with the rest of the room's white colouration. He flexed his mechanical fingers and rolled his wrist, satisfied with the mobility he still had.

'Okay, it's clearly late in the evo now. First order of business, get some water.' he thought. Luckily he didn't even have to move as the door at the end of the room opened and someone stepped through. 'The woman from earlier. What's she doing here?'

''I assume you have questions.'' she said as she stopped by the side of the bed. ''But first, how are you feeling?''

''Well, mouth's as dry as a dead dingo's donger, and I'm pretty sure my arse and legs are numb. All in all, I've been better, cheers for asking.'' he said with a slight dry rasp. Chifuyu nodded and stepped out of the room for about a minute, and returned with a conical cup of water. She handed it to him and he gratefully accepted. He chugged it down and gave out a satisfied sigh.

''Cheers.'' he cleared his throat. ''Well, didn't expect to see you here.'' he said as he sat up. Chifuyu remained standing but carefully watched him.

''Why is that?'' Hunter tilted his head.

''Well, you don't look like a nurse for one thing. That and you actually smell nice and not like anti-bacterial stuff.'' he said. ''Gets up my nose. Can't bloody stand it.''

''I'm here to explain the situation to you.'' she said gaining Hunter's full attention. ''You were sent here as an exchange student.'' she began. She was hoping her little story would work. ''But, the plane you were on was attacked and destroyed. A lot of the island was damaged, but you managed to survive. You're lucky.'' Chifuyu said with as much forced sincerity as she could muster, keeping her expression schooled and calm.

Hunter furrowed his brown and considered her story. He remembered flying, he was with people, there was gunfire and a series of explosions, and then he was falling and then nothing. He briefly remembered people looking for him and a name. Ichika, that was the name he remembered. He wasn't sure why, but he was certain it was important.

Hunter ran his synthetic hand through his dark hair and sighed. ''Well, shit.'' he said with wide eyes. ''I guess I'm supposed to enrol or something?''

Chifuyu pulled a small piece of paper from the breast pocket of her jacket. ''It's already done, Hunter...'' she trailed off, waiting for him to say his last name. In truth, the piece of paper was blank save for a takeaway order she'd written down a week before. Why she still had it on her she didn't know. When she very quickly cast him a glance, a small smirk was on his face. She found it bizarre that she was on the back foot already, and it was not something she liked at all. Swallowing her pride, she coughed into her hand.

''With so many students coming in all the time, it's difficult to keep track of every student's name. What's your surname, I'll need to get it to the enrolment office so they can log you into our systems.'' Chifuyu said professionally, expertly covering up her mistake.

''Comstock. Last name's Comstock.'' Hunter said. He didn't bother asking how she knew his first name, much to her relief. She'd only found his name when she saw it scratched into the top plate of his prosthetic.

''Right. Now that you're here, I'll need to establish some of the basic rules with you.'' she said. Hunter nodded and waited for her to continue. ''From tomorrow morning you are in my class, meaning I'm your teacher. You will address me as Miss. Orimura, and you will keep profanity to a minimum. You'll also be joining another student who will be here in the morning.'' she explained.

''Your class big?''

''It was from the start, now there's been one everyday. I'll give it a little while and the last of them should be here. Why?'' Chifuyu asked. Hunter looked hesitant and looked down at his arm again. It seemed almost reflexive.

''Well, it's just this.'' he pointed to the black mechanical limb. ''It'll probably draw some, ah, unwanted attention.'' he said somewhat sheepishly.

''The uniforms here have long sleeves. The most anyone will see is your hand. But if you do have any problems then bring them to me. It's a part of my job to put little smart-asses in their place.'' she said sternly.

''I'll remember that. Thanks for stopping by anyway. At least I know where I am now, you know?'' he said with a relieved smile before relaxing into the pillow.

''I'll leave you to rest.'' she turned and went to the door, but stopped. She looked over her shoulder at Hunter. ''Before I go I want you to look for someone tomorrow. My younger brother Ichika is also in my class, so you two should probably stick together.'' she said without waiting for any questions.

'That name. Something bothers me about that name. I hear that name, and suddenly I want to fight.' Hunter thought with a deep frown as he clenched his mechanical fist. He suddenly sat up when the door opened again and saw one of the medical staff holding open the door for what looked like one of the kitchen staff.

'Dinner time.' he thought, his stomach grumbling in tandem.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/

A beeping sound invaded the bliss that was Hunter's sleep. He groaned and slowly began to wake up as he fumbled around for the source of the noise. His prosthetic hand touched something, but it felt soft. He fumbled around a little more and felt the plastic front of the alarm clock and when he couldn't find the button to turn it off, he grabbed the clock and crushed it in his immensely strong grip. He opened one eye and saw the remnants of the clock in his right hand, and a rather surprised Chifuyu, donned in a track suit looking at him.

''G'day'' he mumbled as he ran the fingers of his left hand across his eyes. Chifuyu didn't know whether to ignore the destruction of the alarm clock or start the day off with a good ol' fashioned scolding. She shook her head, knowing she didn't have the time for it.

''I'll let that slide this once, but in future you'll pay for any clocks you break.'' she said with a hard tone. Hunter nodded and yawned.

''Yes ma'am.'' he said drowsily. He shook his head to wake himself up a little and looked around. There was a small white cardboard box on the end of his bed which he regarded curiously. Chifuyu noticed that he'd seen it and spoke.

''In that box is your I.S academy uniform. You'll get more soon but for now just one should do. Now come on, get up. It's six a.m and we've got a lot to see before the day starts.'' she said. She then blew a whistle and startled him into action. Hunter tumbled off the bed and hit the hard floor with a meaty slap.

''Ah my arse!'' he yelled. ''This floor's really damn cold!'' he quickly stood and rubbed his rear, which was exposed by the medical gown he wore. Chifuyu gave a single chuckle before hurrying him along. He was soon dressed in his uniform, shouted something about feeling 'Snazzy as fahk!' and followed Chifuyu out of the medical wing and into the academy proper.

Hunter took in every sight he saw with great interest, looking at everything from every angle, looking at the ceiling, the floors, the doors, even the walls. It was easily the most impressive building he'd been in. That wasn't saying much but it was still something. Chifuyu took him through the cafeteria and Hunter shouted a hearty 'G'day' to the staff, then moved onto the class rooms, specifically their classroom. After that they moved onto the I.S bays and the work shop.

''So this is where the units are repaired?'' Hunter asked as he stared at a dismantled training unit. The core lay exposed and plates and bolts lay on metal tables in neat rows with numbers tagged on them.

''Pretty much. The training units here are given regular maintenance on rotation when they're not in use.'' she pointed to the large shutter doors at the end of the work shop. ''They're brought in through the bays and into here. Then they're put onto that table and are examined.'' she said looking at the table with the I.S on it.

''The I.S has a manual with error codes in them. Each code corresponds with a specific error, which is detected digitally. After we know what the error is, our mechanics and engineers can get to work on it.'' she explained.

''Yeah they're kinda like cars in that way.'' Hunter said getting a nod from Chifuyu. ''But their weapons are different.'' Chifuyu looked at him. ''For weapon faults, specifically for people with no weapon knowledge or without a personal I.S, you have to get the weapon access codes and then the error codes from the manufacturers. Only after answering security questions, submitting identification and then the model and nationality of your I.S.''

''Very good. It's not very often students know that.'' she said.

''Well of course. I piss excellence.'' he said with a grin, right before getting chopped on the head.

''What did I say about minding your language?'' she said coldly. Hunter shrank back and held his hands up.

''Yeah, uh, sorry.'' he said with beads of sweat rolling down his face. 'She's fucking scary!'

''Let's continue.'' she said before walking away.

They soon entered the stands of the empty arena, and Hunter's eyes lit up. ''This place has an arena!?'' he shouted in excitement.

''Yes. We use this arena for sparring, training and grudge matches.'' she said, instantly making Hunter more excited.

''Can anyone use this place any time they want?'' he said almost giddily. Chifuyu raised an eyebrow but nodded.

'Someone's a little eager.' she thought. They continued their tour until they were back at the cafeteria. It was around seven a.m now, and students were entering the hall in relatively sparse numbers. It was at this point that Hunter decided it was a good time to eat, speak to some people and maybe get an early advantage in friends.

''Is this the end of the tour? Cos if you don't mind, I wanna go smash some brecky.'' he said scratching the side of his face.

''Alright, but don't be late for class.'' Chifuyu said and made her way out of the cafeteria. As soon as he was alone, he found himself swarmed by a small crowd of very boy-curious girls. The squeals and shouts of excitement was all he could make out from them as no actual words came through. He caught bits and pieces of questions, but overall it was just a wall of noise.

''Alright that's enough, scatter you bunch of idiots!'' came the voice of Chifuyu through the doorway. She glared at the crowd of girls and that alone made them back off. ''I can't turn my back for a second can I?'' she sighed in exasperation. ''So much noise this early.'' she grumbled.

Chifuyu strode towards the crowd and Hunter, making the former slink back to their seats or the breakfast queue. ''I probably should have warned you about that.'' Hunter just shrugged and smirked.

''No worries. It's nice to get a little attention, but I get the feeling it's gonna be a bit dangerous just having a Y-chromosome within 20 miles of this place.'' he said with a small laugh.

''Sadly you're not exactly wrong. My brother had the same problem, and as far as I know, still does. But with you here, and the new student, I'm sure you three can share the burden.'' she replied with a smirk of her own. However Hunter was suddenly not so amused.

''Wait, this is actually a problem. This won't, like, you know, go away after a day or two?'' he asked slightly nervous. Chifuyu shook her head with her arms crossed. She was enjoying his dismay.

''Go get your breakfast and get to class. But, just this once I'll do you a favour and stay right here and make sure they don't try anything.'' she said as she swept her domineering gaze over her students, all of which at least had the good graces to look sheepish.

''Aha, you're a real one ma'am. Cheers.'' he said with a wide smile. She just smiled to herself and watched him join the queue. She observed him make idle chatter with the few people in the line, answering their questions with humorous tangents and jokes. Judging from the way the others laughed, he was getting along with them pretty easily.

Despite attacking them just over a day before, he really didn't look or seem like a terrible person at all. She couldn't be sure if it was just of because of whatever had scrambled his memory of the past few days, or that was just how he was naturally, but he passed off as a generally nice guy. The only drawbacks being he spoke with strange phrases and had a bit of a potty mouth at times. The only true concern she had about him was his I.S. It was a purely unknown factor. Even the reason behind the AC1 model line being cancelled was unknown.

She didn't realise he'd gotten his food and was carefully waving his left hand in front of her face to get her attention. ''You grabbing some or what?'' he asked as he took a seat in the booth off to her right.

''I've already eaten, but thanks. Now, I've got to go get ready for today's lessons. Try to stay out of trouble.'' she said warningly before once again leaving. Once she was gone Hunter turned his attention to the plate of bacon, sausage, French toast and a humongous mushroom. He chuckled to himself and shook his head.

''She's bloody wonderful.'' he said to himself before tucking in. After a few solitary minutes of eating, he noticed someone stop at the entrance to the booth he was sat in. He looked up and saw… him. Hunter's body tensed for just a moment when he laid eyes on Ichika Orimura, the boy he wanted to fight for reasons beyond him. He forced himself to be still, take deep breaths and calmed himself.

''Hey how's it going? You're the new male student right?'' Ichika asked good naturedly. He took a seat opposite Hunter and set down his tray of food.

''G'day. I'm that very same student, yes.'' Hunter responded with forced calm. ''You're Ichika Orimura I assume?''

Ichika nodded as he put his hands together, bowed his head and started eating. ''Yup. Can't believe there's only two of us though. I know they said only women could pilot the I.S, but just two men in the entire world is just ridiculous.''

''Three.'' Hunter corrected while cutting up the huge mushroom on his plate. Ichika's face lit up at that and he almost jumped for joy.

''Three? Wow, now we can all stick together and keep the crowds of of us a bit better.'' he said, accidentally making Hunter realise something.

'Shit! I'm actually gonna need him around for that. These crowds are gonna make me fucking cranky.' he thought bitterly.

''Yeah I suppose. You reckon these girls only know about blokes from those backwards comics you guys have? You know, the ones with the really pretty fuckers in them.'' Hunter asked semi-jokingly.

''Oh you mean yaoi manga?'' he shuddered uncomfortably. ''Most likely. I mean, it's not like they're gonna know much about boys when most of them have probably come from all female I.S prep-shcools, right?'' Ichika replied.

''Great, so they probably think any of us talking or even being in each other's vicinity is romantic. Fuck's sake.'' he sighed.

''Are all men so vulgar when they speak?'' a condescending voice spoke. Both Hunter and Ichika looked away from the food and saw Cecilia standing with both Houki and Rin at the entrance to the booth, each with trays of food.

''Pretty much, yeah.'' Hunter responded casually while taking a mouthful of mushroom. All of them with the exception of the Australian looked at each other somewhat awkwardly.

''Uh...'' Ichika trailed off, not knowing the other boy's name.

''Hunter.''he filled in for Ichika.

''Right, Hunter, could you maybe move over a little so they can sit down?'' he asked, perhaps a little too nicely as it slightly bothered Hunter. He complied and slid over until he was sat next to Ichika, which bothered him even more. The girl's reluctantly sat down, first Cecilia, then Rin, then Houki. They ate in relative silence until Ichika noticed something.

''Hey, Hunter?'' he asked.

''Yeah?''

''What's that on your hand?'' Hunter felt the urge to punch himself, and then Ichika in the nose. Himself for letting him see it so easily, and Ichika for pointing out.

'The fucking drongo just had to go and point it out didn't he.' Hunter mentally groaned. He sighed and once again forced himself to be calm. Something about Ichika's face just made him want to punch it until it stopped resembling a face. How on Earth was he that brilliant woman's brother? He realised he was getting ahead of himself. Maybe Ichika wasn't that bad, and he certainly seemed nice, but he also came across as a bit simple.

''It's a prosthetic.'' he sighed, knowing he'd have to go into a long explanation about his arm and what happened.

''You mean you-'' Houki began, however she was cut off.

''Yes. I don't have a real arm from the elbow down.'' he responded very tersely. The others quickly caught on that it wasn't something he liked discussing. Hunter sighed again and ran his real hand through his hair.

''Look, it's just a bit of a touchy subject, alright? I don't mean to sound like an angry bastard.'' he said apologetically.

''No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up.'' Ichika said awkwardly. Hunter eyed him.

''Well you're not wrong. Ah, well.''

With conversation effectively dead and the girls very uncertain about the newest male pilot, they finished off their food and went to class.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/

'Now either he's a very confused girl, or he's easily the prettiest boy I've ever seen.' Hunter thought as Maya introduced the newest addition to their class, Charles Dunois. Blonde, almost flawless long hair, perfect pale skin, crystalline purple eyes and a slight frame. He must have looked like some sort of cave troll in comparison when he introduced himself to the class. The girls, predictably as ever went crazy for him. Hunter shook his head with pity as he knew girls had a thing for pretty boys, and so he'd be a fan favourite.

''Silence dammit, that's enough out of you!'' Chifuyu called authoritatively. Dead silence immediately followed, but Hunter chuckled to himself.

'I swear she's lioness amongst common house cats.' he thought.

''Something funny student Comstock?'' Chifuyu asked as she stood over him. He quickly straightened his face and shook his head.

''No ma'am, nothing at all.'' Chifuyu smirked slightly and moved back to the front of the class.

''Today we're going to be doing joint practical training with class-2. We'll go over basic I.S movement, combat theory and I.S activation. I want everyone changed and ready on the second field ASAP.'' she looked at Ichika and then Hunter.

''Orimura, Comstock, I want you two to get Dunois to the changing rooms and to keep an eye on him. You're all male so it makes sense that you look out for each other.'' she ordered and heard no argument from either of them. ''Alright, let's get moving ladies!''

Charles moved from the front of the class towards Ichika's seat and saw Comstock approaching from the back of the class. The French student looked up at the towering Australian and was surprised when he offered a hand.

''G'day. How are ya'? Name's Hunter.'' Hunter greeted brightly. Charles relaxed and shook Hunter's left hand with a smile.

''Hello, nice to meet you. And you too, Orimura. I am-'' he was cut off when Ichika suddenly stood. He was puzzled at his abrupt change in posture as he seemed eager to leave.

''Uh, now's not the best time. We should go quickly.'' he grabbed Charles' hand and pulled him along, beckoning Hunter to follow. The trio walked at a brisk pace through the halls, with Ichika being the only one that wasn't confused.

''The girls will start changing soon, so it's best if we move quickly to avoid them. They'll be drawn the three of us like moths to flame.'' Ichika explained.

''Bad news pal. We've been spotted.'' Hunter said in slight alarm as he could see a wall of girls quickly closing in on them from the hall they were just in. The shrieking horde of girls was closing in fast, and another was approaching from in front of them. ''Quick, down this random hallway that I have absolutely no clue where it leads to!''

The trio bolted down the hallway, leaving the girls in the dust as their survival instincts kicked in. ''We seriously can't be that interesting.'' Hunter said incredulously.

''I was wondering what all of the commotion was about.'' Charles said curiously. Ichika kept his eyes up ahead while he answered.

''It's most likely to do with the fact that we're the only guys in the world who can use and I.S let alone activate one. But seriously, you'd think it wouldn't be such a big deal.'' Ichika replied with a slight breathless wheeze.

''Preaching to the fucking choir mate.'' Hunter chimed in.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/

''Clear!'' the Australian pilot called as he enacted a tactical breach and clear of the changing room, just with no explosives and nobody in the room. Ichika and Charles followed him in and made their way to an aisle with lockers on either side and a row of benches in the middle.

''Alright, time's-a-wastin' so get changed and move out.'' Hunter ordered. Before Ichika or Charles could catch their breath, Hunter had already shed the top half of his uniform. He had a toned physique that complemented his broad frame. He had a series of stitches on his right side under his ribs and small scars mixed in with minor stretch marks. Besides his stitches, what drew the others' attention was his prosthetic arm.

Charles was rather confused by it at first, but was then quite amazed at how articulated and functional it was. Ichika was just surprised that it really did make up the lower half of his arm.

''See something you like fellas?'' Hunter asked, looking at them from over his shoulder. Charles turned around so quickly he could have knocked himself out with G-forces alone. Ichika just looked away and began changing as well.

''Come on Charles, we're all blokes here. Show us your guns, go on!'' Hunter egged him on while he flexed in various poses.

''I, uh… I'm not particularly muscular you see, so there's not much to look at.'' he said with forced humour as he tried dissuading Hunter. ''I'm going to get changed now, so if you could not look while I do, I would be grateful.'' he said looking between both of his classmates and while Ichika turned and carried on, Hunter shrugged and opened his locker to put his clothes away. He held up the pilot uniform, scoffed at it and grumbled while he put it on.

'I need to get my body suit back. I can't be going around wearing this two piece condom.' he thought in disgust. He pinched and pulled at the material at his crotch to make room as it kept pinching him.

''It's not like we were gonna stare at you while you changed anyway. That would be weird, right Hunter?''

''Well yeah. A bloke's a bloke, no matter how pretty he is.'' he said as stretched his arms and chest to loosen the material squeezing him. Ichika raised an eyebrow and looked at Charles, who had rather speedily changed into his pilot outfit. ''Whoa, you changed fast. But now that I look closer, you are actually really pretty for a guy. No wonder the girls like you.''

''Oi.'' Hunter cut in. ''You know it's bullshit that we can't wear undies with these things. My nads keep getting pinched by the damn thing.'' the Australian complained.''

''I know right? Have to keep adjusting these shorts. And even then, there's no guarantee that you won't get a wedgy anyway.'' Ichika said irritably.

''Nads?'' Charles asked rather confused.

''Yeah, nads. Nuts, berries, gonads, balls, bollocks, testicles. You have got a pair, right?'' he asked jokingly. Ichika decided it was a good time to jump in before things got too awkward.

''By the way Charles, your suit looks really easy to put on.'' he said looking the black and orange pilot suit up and down.

''Oh, right. That's because it's an original suit made by Dunois.'' Charles said.

''Dunois? That's your last name right?'' Ichika said tilting his head to the side. Charles nodded.

''Dunois is the name of the company as my father is the CEO.'' the French boy explained.

''Do you reckon they can make suits that don't make me want to walk around with my nuts out?'' Hunter said as he was still fidgeting with his shorts.

''Oh look at the time, we should really be going now.'' Charles replied with extreme haste and quickly jogged out of the changing room. The room was silent for a while before either of the two boys spoke.

''Uh, just between you and me, one man to another…'' Hunter started, somewhat awkwardly. ''Is it just me, or does Charles have a really good arse for a bloke?''

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/

Hunter still wondered just how getting hit by an out of control I.S unit would end in a sexually awkward situation. Seriously, how did Ichika even end up on top of Maya. Oh, and he just had to be grabbing one of her fun bags while he was at it. Hunter shook his head and sighed as he though about how Ichika, the virginal weirdo reacted by stumbling away sputtering an apology. All he had to do was get up and say sorry. What made him laugh was how Cecilia not so subtly 'accidentally' fired a shot past his face.

The whole first half of their lesson was watching both Cecilia and Rin get absolutely devastated by Maya, who happened to be a representative contender before she was a teaching assistant. She'd handily outmanoeuvred, out thought, outgunned and overall outclassed them in every way. Put simply, behind the happy, kind exterior, she was a badass. She'd blown them out of the sky using a mass produced Rafael Revive unit against Cecilia's Blue Tears and Rin's Shenlong, two of the most powerful units at the academy.

While Cecilia and Rin glowered at each other in the smoking hole they made on impact with the ground, Chifuyu explained the next part of the lesson. They were to form teams, with students who had personal units as the team leaders. Chifuyu had suspected it could be a problem, especially for Hunter, whose unit would likely be recognised. However, it was too late to worry about that as he had already activated his I.S.

The students, including Ichika, Houki, Rin and Cecilia looked in awe of Hunter's unit, the 'Sentinel Crusader'. It stood taller than most other units to accommodate the height of its pilot, so it was quite an imposing figure. While Chifuyu could recognise it from when she saw it through the security feed, several features were different. For one, the shields she saw floating behind its back were gone, as were the coffin shaped shoulder plates, replaced by large rounded plates of metal. Its weapon wasn't a sword, but a quad-barrel shotgun with a large stock and break-action loading system. The arms and legs were thicker as well. However, she couldn't determine why it looked so different. She also couldn't tell if the colour was much different as the night vision cameras only picked up large shapes and small details.

Various girls swarmed to all different personal I.S users, most flocking to Ichika and Charles, with a decent amount going to Cecilia and Rin. Only a small group went to Hunter. He looked down at them and then at the others. He scoffed and looked at his little group, all looking up at him with eagerness. He smirked and put on his best scary face.

''Alright!'' he bellowed, drawing the attention of the other students. ''I want two single file lines and complete silence. You will respond with 'Yes sir'! Is that clear?'' he shouted. The girls quickly, seemingly automatically organised themselves into two quiet lines.

''Yes sir!'' they responded in unison. Hunter nodded in satisfaction.

''Now, you will each go to the training unit and climb into it. You will do so without assistance. Understood?''

''Sir, yes sir!''

Chifuyu observed him giving commands and instructing his group with vested interest. He clearly had a grasp on leadership, hell the girls didn't even complain or waste time, they just followed his orders. He sounded like a drill sergeant. She half expected him to shout 'drop and give me twenty' at any moment.

Houki watched as the girl before her leapt from the cockpit of the I.S, leaving it standing. She looked at it and knew climbing it was out of the question. It was over eight feet tall, and the cockpit was about six and a half feet of the ground.

''Okay who's next? Ichika asked. Houki unfolded her arms and stepped forward.

''It's me.'' she said, irritation seemingly a permanent feature of her voice. ''But by the looks of it, I won't be able to get in the I.S like that. The cockpit's too high up.'' she said with disinterest. Suddenly Maya appeared from the side of the dormant unit.

''It's okay, Ichika can pick you up.'' she said cheerily.

''Uh, what?'' Houki said with confusion.

''Ichika, activate you Byakushiki.'' she instructed. Ichika did so immedately by tapping the thick metal bracelet around his wrist. He was engulfed in a bright light and the Byakushiki unit appeared around his body.

''What is he supposed to do with that?'' Houki questioned, suddenly becoming quite concerned.

''Why, he's gonna pick you up and shove you on that big thing.'' she announced a little too loudly as the loud, roaring laughter of Hunter was heard from across the field.

''You said that on purpose!'' he yelled amidst his laughter.

''I don't know what you mean.'' Maya responded with a mischievous grin.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/

''When I said we should have our lunch together Ichika, I didn't mean this.'' Houki said as she glared daggers at the oblivious boy. On a rooftop garden of the academy sat Ichika, Charles and Hunter on one half of their sitting-circle, and Houki, Cecilia and Rin on the other.

''The more the merrier right?'' Ichika said nervously as Houki's glare intensified.

'I almost feel sorry for the poor girl.' Hunter though. 'She's fallen for the guy who picks up on romance like a fork picks up soup. I've known the guy for like, three hours and I already see this is gonna be a hilarious, yet slightly sad problem.'

''Besides, Charles and Hunter just got here so they won't know their way around without me.'' he defended. He had a good point at lest, seeing as Houki relented.

Hunter lay on his back against the grass looking up at the sky. He wasn't too interested in whatever they were talking about as Ichika's density would just give him passive stupidity. He'd make him an idiot by proxy.

'Wow, I'm really harsh on this guy.' Hunter thought with a small chuckle. 'Ah well, it's his own fault for being a drongo all the time.' he sat up when he smelled several delicious things. He sniffed the air more intently, garnering strange looks from Ichika and Charles, and slightly alarmed looks from the girls.

''That's some good smelling tucker.'' he commented before lying back down.

''Are you sure it was good to bring us here Ichika?'' Charles asked awkwardly as he could read the atmosphere from the girls.

''Yeah it's totally fine. The three of us should stick together, especially since you and I will be room mates soon. As for Hunter, well he's tough and I'm sure he'll get something sorted out, right?'' he said looking over at Hunter. The Australian threw him a prosthetic thumbs up.

''Too right I will.'' he replied with certainty.

''You know you're a really sweet guy Ichika.'' Charles said with a smile. Ichika blushed at the sudden compliment, which didn't go unnoticed by the girls.

''Is there a reason you're blushing like that Ichika?'' Rin hissed. Hunter sat up and looked at her.

''Lay off will ya'? Do you know how hard it is to get a legit compliment like that off another bloke? It's really fucking hard.'' he said. ''I can't remember the last time I heard a guy call another sweet.'' he then stood up and stretched his legs.

''I'm gonna take off anyway. I gotta go grab some munchies before class.'' he gave a small wave before strolling through the doorway back into the academy.

''His language is truly vulgar. It's to be expected of someone who hails from a country of convicts I suppose.'' Cecilia said in false dismay. Ichika frowned as he didn't appreciate trashing someone when their back was turned.

''Hey, that was uncalled for. And that comment about a country full of convicts was especially distasteful Cecilia.'' Ichika scolded.

''Listen Ichika, while I don't agree with that last part, you have to admit he's kinda rough, you know?'' Houki said.

''Not you too Houki. You don't even know the guy.''

''But do you?'' Rin snapped.

''I don't know his past or anything like that, but I know from just a short time of talking to him he's not that bad. Sure he's kinda crude and swears a lot, but he's really not a bad guy.'' Ichika said vehemently, set on defending Hunter.

''I agree. He's actually rather funny if you're not made uncomfortable by his jokes.'' Charles declared as he calmly joined the conversation.

''If he does anything really bad or does anything hurtful, Chifuyu or Maya will deal with him. Until then we should at least try to get along. You've really got no legitimate reason to not like him.'' Ichika said pointedly, more at Cecilia than anyone else. The girls quickly realised arguing with Ichika over it was a waste of time as they were clearly not going to be able to change his mind easily. They returned to their lunch and began trying to win Ichika over with their food.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/

Hunter meandered his way through the crowds of girls until he made his way outside the academy. He found it curious that a helicopter was taking off as he got out and decided he wanted to know if someone had just arrived. It took him about five minutes to get to the helipad at the end of the island, but when he arrived he saw Chifuyu talking to a very short girl with long silver hair, a standard I.S academy jacket and baggy trousers with black boots up to her knees. She had a black eyepatch over her left eye, which piqued Hunter's interest pretty quickly.

As he got closer, the girl noticed him and informed Chifuyu. His teacher turned to face him and frowned. He noticed her expression and took it in his stride as he waved with his prosthetic hand.

''Avo ma'am. How's the day treating you?'' he greeted. He then looked at the girl, her ruby-like right eye boring into him. ''And who might you be?'' he offered his right hand to her. Noting his politeness, she took his hand and shook firmly.

''My name is Laura Bodewig, I.S representative of Germany.'' she said with a thick German accent that sent a wave of pleasantness through Hunter.

''Name's Hunter Comstock, best male pilot on this island.'' he said with a grin. Chifuyu sighed and shook her head.

''You'll have to excuse him Laura, he's can be quite full of himself at times.'' she said. The Australian gave a mock look of offense.

''There's nothing wrong in having faith in oneself and the facts ma'am.'' he then put his hands in his pockets and returned his gaze to the German girl.

''Before we continue, I should probably let you know before someone else blurts it out, my right arm from the elbow down'' he pulled his right sleeve down as he held his right arm up ''Is synthetic. I guess you could say I'm a cyborg or something.'' he joked.

''Fascinating.'' Laura said as she inspected it. ''It's truly quite a piece of engineering.'' she commented as she watched the fingers and wrist move flawlessly like a normal human hand.

''Hunter, I want you to show her around before classes start.'' Chifuyu said. ''We'll discuss more later Laura, but for now try to get along with him. A word of warning though, he has a habit of using weird phrases when he speaks, so just ignore them.''

''Uh, rude. I'll have you know ma'am, that it's just how we Aussie's speak. It makes perfect sense to me.'' he said a little self consciously. ''It's not that weird is it?''

''I'm not saying stop, just try to explain what you mean. Anyway, I'll see you two in class.'' Chifuyu said before she departed for the academy.

''So,'' Hunter began ''What's Germany like?''

 **And that's the first proper chapter of the story done. I'm finally getting my pace back, and I'm having fun with this surprisingly. Anyways, did any of you get the ''like a fork picks up soup'' reference? Tell me your thoughts with the reviews, follow, fav and all that good stuff. My idea behind Hunter and Laura is that they've both lost something physically to get where they are, Hunter his right arm and Laura her left eye, though Laura technically still has it. Either way the idea will be expanded upon in later chapters.**

 **BrutalAftershock, out.**


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